This is my final week in Huanchaco, and it’s certainly been an interesting and insightful experience. In this post I will write about how I spent my final week and give some reflections on my time here.

I felt I couldn’t leave Huanchaco without going for a ride with a fishermen in a caballito de totora. Fishermen often take tourists out on the water in the caballitos. It is a fun activity for travelers and a great way for them to experience the culture dated as far as 900 years AD. For the fishermen, it serves as a second income, which gives them more financial stability and it particularly helpful for the days where they are unable to fish, or when there is not much fish to be found in the water.Read more

In my third week, I was lucky enough to experience the Fiestas de San Pedro, or St Peter’s festival. There were celebrations all week, with the main holiday being on the 29th June. This is a holiday for the whole of Peru, but it is particularly special for Huanchaco as a fishing village, because St Peter was the Patron Saint for fishing.

To celebrate St Peter the fishermen of Huanchaco built a big reed boat, called a Patacho. The fishermen have been building this boat for three weeks. Although Huanchaco has been celebrating St Peter for much longer, the tradition of the patacho began thirty years ago. However, there is evidence to suggest that in the Chimu era, 900-1470 AD, patachos were also built for various celebrations.Read more